


Ice Magic

by Tilltheendwilliwrite



Series: Christmas Drabble Day 2018 [9]
Category: Doctor Strange (2016), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Christmas Eve, Christmas Fluff, F/M, Fluff, Magic, Romance, тэг заменён на Don't copy to another site
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-24
Updated: 2018-12-24
Packaged: 2019-09-24 16:00:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,566
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17103644
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tilltheendwilliwrite/pseuds/Tilltheendwilliwrite





	Ice Magic

 

 

* * *

 

You stared forlornly out the window of the London Sanctum at the grey drizzle falling from the sky. It was Christmas Eve, and you’d accompanied the Sorcerer Supreme to the last-minute meeting of the Heads of all the Sanctums. Just because it was Christmas didn’t mean work for the Sanctums ended. Stephen especially was incredibly busy, but being in London where the weather seemed to match your gloomy mood just kind of sucked. 

You wanted snow and ice rinks, and skating beneath open skies as snowflakes fell on your face: hot chocolate with marshmallows to warm your hands, and a white Christmas. This just felt wrong. You missed home and hoped you’d be able to return to New York soon. 

Three hours later when the doors to the meeting room remained firmly shut, you gave up waiting and went in search of something fun to do to relieve your boredom. The Sanctum was quite a bit bigger than the New York version, and you spent a bit of time poking your nose in here and there until you came across a wide open room with a parkay floor. Windows lined the one wall, allowing more grey light to flood through and cast shadows over the ground. It appeared to be a ballroom, maybe one they used to hold larger gatherings, but for the moment it was empty. 

And perfect.

You gave the door a push behind you as you headed inside, unaware that it didn’t close fully, too intent on the spell you were working.  Eldritch Magic wicked from your fingers in lines of red and glowing Tao Mandalas until the parkay floor was covered in ice. A skating rink of the purest blue lay before you, and you sent a final curl of magic around your feet, transmuting your shoes into skates.

The first glide out onto the ice was like going home. You’d been on skates practically since the moment you could walk, and had been on the road to the Olympics when the accident happened. Years of rehab had left you with a leg that worked but could no longer hold up against the strain of things like Double Axels and Triple Toe Loops. The inability to return to skating had been what set you on the path to Kamar-Taj, desperately searching for a way back to what you had once been. In that aspect, you weren’t so different from Stephen. Like him, you’d come seeking one path and wound up walking another. You didn’t regret the change, but sometimes you missed the ice.

The scrape of skate blades and the brush of cold air as you glided over the surface took you back to your younger days, and you moved over the ice with ease. The grey day disappeared as memories of early mornings spent in arenas under bright fluorescent lights with classical music playing through the speakers surfaced. It took you back, and you danced on ice, spinning and twirling, the moves coming back to you. 

You were in the middle of a layback spin when the clapping started and startled you so badly you caught a toe pick and damn near fell on your face. “Crap, Dr. Strange! You scared me.”

“So it seems.” He walked through the door and shut it behind him, feet slipping on the ice. “You’re quite talented.”

You shrugged. “I was once. Now, it’s only a hobby.”

His shoes disappeared as he transmuted them for skates of the hockey variety and pushed off, gliding toward you. “Did you skate professionally at one time?”

Shyly you nodded. “Olympic bound until the accident. That’s how I found Kamar-Taj. I was looking for a way back.”

“That sounds strangely familiar.” He glided to a stop beside you. “So what’s all this?”

You looked toward the windows where the grey drizzle was still falling. “Guess I was a little homesick. Usually, I go skating Christmas Eve. Here there’s no snow, no ice. Just rain.”

“Hmm,” he hummed. 

Lights of red and green glowed around his hands. They moved too fast for you to follow, but when the first flake fell past your nose, you looked up with a gasp.

“Snow!”

“Wouldn’t do to have your Christmas tradition spoiled. I’d hate for you to be unhappy on my account.”

“Well, thank you. This is lovely.” You pushed off away from him, gliding over the ice in dizzying spins and sharp cuts of skate blades. Without thinking, you pushed for more speed and were midway into the jump before you remembered you shouldn’t be trying that. It was a simple double toe loop, but the landing still sent fire screaming through your thigh and you crashing down to the ice.

“Y/N!” Stephen skated over and dropped beside you as you clutched your thigh and gritted your teeth against the pain. 

“Stupid, stupid move. I know better than that.”

“Let me look.” His scarred hands replaced yours. “Why did you do it, if you know better?”

You sighed and flinched when his thumbs found the old scar tissue you’d reinjured. “I guess I keep hoping one day I’ll land a jump again. It’s dumb, but I can’t seem to stop. You probably think me an idiot.”

“No. No, I don’t think that. There was a time I thought I’d get my hands back to where I could return to work. It’s a large portion of your life that has suddenly slipped from your grasp. Reaching out to see if you can touch it again, I think that’s human nature.” Green light glowed around his fingers and in turn your thigh.

You blinked at him in surprise. “Did you just use the Eye of Agamotto to reverse time and fix my thigh?”

“Maybe, but let’s keep that between us, shall we?”

A giggle surprised you when he stood and offered his hands. “The Sorcerer Supreme breaking the rules?”

“Only bending,” he smiled and tugged you up. 

The force he used sent your skates skidding, and you slid into his, taking his feet out from under him. Stephen crashed down on top of you, knocking the breath from your lungs, but you couldn’t help but laugh at the entire comedy of errors.

Soon he was laughing with you, face tucked in your shoulder until you both stopped abruptly when you realized the position you were in. He lifted his head to look down at you, and your breath caught. “Doctor?”

“Stephen. You should call me Stephen.”

“Why?” you asked, finding his eyes mesmerizing. 

“So then I won’t feel as if I am taking advantage when I kiss you.”

You took a sharp inhale and breathed out, “Stephen.”

His hand cupped your cheek, and you clutched his robes. The first brush of his lips was feather-light and tender, a barely-there caress. The second pulled teasingly at your lower lip. The third saw your noses bumping lightly as your breath mingled. Finally, they settled against yours, pressed and clung before parting. 

“Y/N.” He rested your foreheads together, as affected by the kiss as you were. “Have dinner with me?”

“When?” Your lips tingled, and you licked them only to taste Stephen onto your tongue. He tasted like magic felt. Alive and crackling, with a bite of spice for the senses.

“Now. Tonight. We’ve adjourned for the time being, but will be resuming the conference in a few hours. I can’t offer you a lavish feast, but the cooks are quite good here, and they’ve offered us a private suite.”

You reached up to brush the snowflakes from his hair. “They did, did they?”

“I may have implied we were more than just colleagues when Timo inquired about your needs. Wishful thinking on my part, perhaps, but you are a beautiful woman. Seeing you skate drove that point home for me.”

The flattery warmed your heart. “I’d love to have dinner with you, Stephen. Tonight… and any night in the future.”

“Is that so?” he chuckled and sat back to help you up.

“Mm. Who knew all it would take was a little ice magic and some clumsy feet to see a Christmas miracle happen.”

“A miracle, hmm?” he smiled and shook his head. “Well, then. We shouldn’t waste the ice magic.” He held out his arm. “Take another lap with me before we go eat?”

You took it readily and pushed off at his side. “This turned out to be a pretty great Christmas Eve after all.”

“I was just thinking the same.” He bent toward you, lost his balance and sent you both crashing back to the ice. At least this time, you landed on him.

“I think that’s enough ice magic!” you laughed and took the opportunity presented to steal another quick kiss.

“I used to be better at this,” he grumbled before waving his hands, shattering the hold the magic had and allowing it to dissipate. 

“That’s alright. When we go home, we can try again.”

A smile curled the corners of his mouth as he exchanged your skates for shoes and helped you up again. “That we can.”

As he led you from the room, you cast a last glance back at the now dark windows. Your trip to London had turned out better than you thought thanks to that little bit of ice magic.

A final snowflake drifted down to land on the ballroom’s wooden floor and disappeared.

-End-

  
  



End file.
